Best and worst smelling chemicals

[Chemguy]

Ok, I saw a thread on smdb about this, and I thought is was quite intersting so I thought I would put one up here the same, as there isn't one yet.

There are poisonous chemicals so obviously don't smell a whole lot of them.

 

Anyway, I'll start.

Best: Ethyl acetate. I like this because it has a sweet fruity smell, can be a bit overpowering though. Also I like the smell of the many chemicals made when BP burns.

 

Worst: Bromine! This smells so repulsive it makes me sick thinking about it . It's far worse than chlorine and iodine in my opinion, so much for being a liquid, it fumes so much it's virtually a gas.

[Swany]

I will do this for what I have synthesised, or been in contact worth.

Best: Methyl Benzoate; smells like fruit, a component of many fruit smells, but it doesn't really scream 'apples' or 'oranges', for example.

Worst: Butyric acid. Enough said.

[Rogue Chemist]

Skatole, reagent grade. Why oh why did I neglect the wafting technique.

[itwasntme]

lol, RTV Silicone, it smelled like boiled vinegar. I haven't had much experience with many chemicals, just basic BP chems and some stuff from the hardware store. Oh and burt garden sulfur, that is not the way sulfur should smell!

Best: sufur by products, H2S, and so on

[BigBang]

Best would be benzoic acid. Hard to describe, but prbably killing my nose with each waft.

 

Worst agrees with swany. I found a 250mL bottle of butyric in my schools storage, and even when closed, reaked of manure.

 

Evilest would be capsaicin(oids.) My god did that burn!

[styropyro]

Best: Well, I don't have any experience with "good" smelling chemicals, but I do like the smell of *trace* amounts of chlorine in the air, it reminds me of summer, and the Fourth of July is in summer over here

 

Worst: Sulfur Dioxide. That stuff is HORRIBLE! If you have ever got a good whiff of that stuff, you WILL know what I mean. Once that stuff gets down your throat, the resulting cough and sore throat takes a while to go away. I learned this once I was just starting pyro, and I got my self my first batch of sulfur from the garden store. I lit some, so I sniffed it wondering if it was as bad as the stuff I read on the internet. It was. Stupid, stupid me.

[itwasntme]

Best: Well, I don't have any experience with "good" smelling chemicals, but I do like the smell of *trace* amounts of chlorine in the air, it reminds me of summer, and the Fourth of July is in summer over here

 

Worst: Sulfur Dioxide. That stuff is HORRIBLE! If you have ever got a good whiff of that stuff, you WILL know what I mean. Once that stuff gets down your throat, the resulting cough and sore throat takes a while to go away. I learned this once I was just starting pyro, and I got my self my first batch of sulfur from the garden store. I lit some, so I sniffed it wondering if it was as bad as the stuff I read on the internet. It was. Stupid, stupid me.

Garden sulfur is the worst, it made my BP and teleflite stink like hell. It was not the good kind of sulfur like in black powder that I LOVE! I bought some real sulfur powder and it smells bad at first then it smells like rotten eggs, I'm guessing it forms H2S by reacting with the minute ammount of H in the air. Does anyone know why rotten eggs smell like H2S or vice-versa?

[Frozentech]

Garden sulfur is the worst, it made my BP and teleflite stink like hell. It was not the good kind of sulfur like in black powder that I LOVE! I bought some real sulfur powder and it smells bad at first then it smells like rotten eggs, I'm guessing it forms H2S by reacting with the minute ammount of H in the air. Does anyone know why rotten eggs smell like H2S or vice-versa?

Because when eggs rot, the sulfur in the yolk is converted by bacterial fermentation into H2S.

 

As far as *pyro* odors: my favorite hands down is the tang of KP on rice hulls burnt in the open. I know it's mainly SO2, but it reminds me so much of shooting capguns as a little kid.

 

My least favorite is unexpected ammonia smell when working with MgAl and ammonium perchlorate comps. Scared hell out of me, the fact the comp was heating to the point of steaming didn't help my adrenaline level much either.

[Chemguy]

Lately I have had a lot of SO2 in my workshop , mostly due to small amounts of unsuccesful BP going off. It really burns your lungs.

I used to like the smell of SO2 in small amounts, now it makes me sick.

[rocket]

Once when I was making MgAl I had a bit of a fire so I put it out with sulfur. In the process I got a lung full of SO2. Had sore eyes throat and nose, all in all it wasn’t very fun.

[cplmac]

Best : Ethylene Glycol, smells sweet, tastes sweet.

Worst : Napthalene, and it doesn't go away for a long time.

[rocket]

I semi like the smell of naphthalene but it reminds me of old peoples homes. The smell gets everywhere that’s what I hate about it.

[teknix]

mmmmmmm I love the smell of Putrescine in the morning.

[Mumbles]

Another bad smelling one, hexachloroethane. It reminds me of sour beer vomit. After a night of drinking I simply cannot be around the stuff.

[h0lx]

cplmac, the EG you have is probably dyed and/or scented, I have some analytical and technical, they are odorless, haven't tasted tho.

 

Kewlish or not, I like the smell of TATP. But the aromatics of gasoline or incompletely burnt casoline(smell car exhaust fumes on a -20*C day)must be the best smell yet. Other good smells include NO2(if in trace amounts), and ofcourse the godly BP endproducts bundle.

 

The worst smelling chemical? I would say Butyric acid, but I never smelled it pure so I can't really say. My pure litmus smells like 2 week old piss, so that might be it.

[Rocket007]

best: the smell of a nice experiment with nice results

 

bad: butyric acid, Cl, H2S, phenol, amoniak, HCl and thinks that ncite my nose, eys ..

 

[Polumna]

hi

 

i hate the smell of warm kno3 and ammonia.

 

polumna

[h0lx]

Actually the smell of sulphophenol is really good.

 

Oh and if a gas is irritating or choking, I wouldn't say it smells bad. see HCl doesen't have a smell too, but stings as hell.

[Chemguy]

HCl doesn't have a smell? I know what HCl smells like, it is a easily rememberable smell. Unique, and it does sting a lot! But it does smell quite nice if it's in small quantities. H2S, on the other hand smells bad, I heated up wax with sulfur (like, 1 gram) and the smell stayed for days. It's so strong,a and horrible.

[oriansbelt]

I like smell of mothballs but I do't think that is useful in pyro so sodium benzoate also has a smell I rather like.

 

As far as bad smelling goes SO2 is the worst I've smelt.

[ActionTekJackson]

I cannot stand the smell of NOx fumes from a nitric synth.... uhg, kills me.

 

I love the smell of cooking Rcandy, smells like carmel and fireworks, can life get any better?!?!

[Pretty green flame]

I like the smell of chlorine, smells nice. IPA isn't bad also.

 

I hate the smell of gasoline fumes, makes me wanna throw up.

[Chemguy]

I cannot stand the smell of NOx fumes from a nitric synth.... uhg, kills me.

I have to say I quite like them. I mean I don't love NOx or anything but when it is low concentration it has a sweetish smell. And Ialso like the smell of gasoline, not too strong though.

 

What about burnt hair , bleaguhg.

[Rooster]

Yeah burnt hear is quite bad. My favourite one is probably chlorine, since I was a swimmer for 13 years, and that smell kinda gives me a good feeling of the old days. I kinda like NOx too, for the same reason, reminds me of the days when I was distilling my very own white nitric acid.

 

The nicest smell is maybe methylpropyl formate(raspberry). I actually made incense of that once, not too successful though. The peach one is quite good too.

 

I would say the worst one is maybe the smell of decaying human bodies in a closed basement. Rotting flesh, putrescine and cadaverine, bad smelling amine-compounds are the worst.

 

And Mumbles, I kinda like the smell of HCE in the morning. Not bad, not bad at all. Weird but interesting smell.

 

The bodies thing was a joke, BTW

[Mumbles]

To be fair the the last time I opened up the container I had a bit of the bottle flu. I am interested in using it as a replacement for HCB. I have some HCB, but it's pretty hard to find now-a-days, so it's a saver.